Conventionally, a compound-type semiconductor thin film is formed on a substrate for manufacturing a semiconductor light-emitting device. In terms of the need for a reduction in light emission wavelength of the semiconductor light-emitting device, there has been a demand for forming such a thin film with high crystallinity and high quality from a material with a large band gap energy. Further, in a display element, a display device, a solar cell, and a semiconductor light-emitting device, a transparent conductive thin film is used. There has been a demand for forming such a thin film at a low temperature in terms of a problem of heat resistance of a substrate.
On the other hand, such a transparent conductive thin film often contains indium as a constituent element. However, there is a possibility of depletion of indium as resources and thus there has been a demand for a thin film (conductive thin film) containing no indium.
Patent Document 1 proposes to use a zinc oxide (ZnO)-based material as a thin film containing no indium. Patent Document 1 further discloses a remote plasma-excited MOCVD (Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) apparatus that uses a plasma. The remote plasma-excited MOCVD apparatus shown in Patent Document 1 is such that a plasma generating section and a transport section are added to a conventional MOCVD apparatus, thereby introducing radicals into the reaction process to promote decomposition of an organic metal, thus enabling the growth of a crystal at a low temperature.
To explain more specifically, the remote plasma-excited MOCVD apparatus shown in Patent Document 1 converts oxygen (O2), hydrogen (H2), or the like into a plasma and uses it for a thin film growing reaction. Therefore, a plasma generator as the plasma generating section is disposed in a place different from that of a stainless chamber serving as a reaction container and converts oxygen, hydrogen, or helium into a plasma. Among generated ions, electrons, radicals, and light, neutral atomic radicals with a relatively long lifetime are transported to the stainless chamber and used for a decomposition reaction of a material.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2007-66986